Should we kick out foul language from football

[everreddy]

Yes. There's absolutely no need for it! In my experience, many regular swearers are ignorant chavs who are inarticulate and don't have the intelligence or vocabulary to express themselves adequately. Many decent families refrain from taking their kids to football because of the foul language which is prevalent, unnecessary and impossible to avoid. 

It's an opinion, valid but no doubt unpopular! I am now going to step back, put my fingers in my ears, and refrain from responding to the torrent of foul abuse undoubtedly heading my way!

[exAtyeoMax]

8 hours ago, Erithacus said:

If you dig out the archives, you'll read letters to the Evil Post stating how much 'industrial' language could be heard at the footy - from over a century ago. It's not new. Doesn't mean it's right, of course, but not new.

I was reading a book about football in the 19th century, and it sounded like a riot! There was a mixed crowd of men and women, lots of fighting and the refs were usually drunk!

[CotswoldRed]

Until they stop the players swearing it shouldn't even be a discussion point. 

Anyway, what's the point of swear words if they can't be used? I liken it to those ads on the TV a few years back when they substituted swear words for more tepid language in situations where swearing would be the norm. It was ridiculous. Think they were produced by the BBFC. 

If you get angry, emotional groups of adults together you'll get swearing. To suggest or demand otherwise is naive. 

[grifty]

Me and my Dad still censor ourselves when singing rude songs by saying 'bleep'.

 

 

I'm 29 years old....

[exAtyeoMax]

I have more of a problem with the use of certain words than swearing itself. I don't like the use of words that could refer to a person's physical or mental being, such as "spaz" "spakker" "word being with m, o, n, g" etc. (filter won't accept the word)

[cidered abroad]

The question should be that we remove bad language completely from the dictionary and use anywhere in our society.

Well, that is almost impossible and would require a police force of such size to monitor everyone's vocabulary that it would cost more to the country than the NHS.

The English "F" word stems directly from the Saxon invasion of southern England some 1,400 years ago and is identical except for one letter to the original German word. So I say to all "Ficken Sie auf" if you think it would be possible to remove bad language from English. 

[WhistleHappy]

Bow locks to that, fowl language at football is all just a bit of harmless bantam.

 

[TinMan's left peg]

It's a question of context, frequency and the swear words in question. There's always the family section if people like no swearing at all. I personally swear occasionally when the need arises ("f****ng hell ref etc.) but I'm not a fan of people who continuously shout "you ****" at everything and everyone for an entire match.  Swearing can be a brilliant way of expressing yourself if used properly, if not it can make you sound like a moron. Frank Skinner trialled going completely clean in his standup a few years back and found that with either no swearing or loads of swearing the jokes lost their impact, when he used swearing sparingly it had the best effect on an audience.  Also I'd rather my kid hears people shout out swear words than the homophobic abuse we heard against Brighton the other week and the thankfully rarer racist abuse I've heard at matches before.

[WhistleHappy]

Anyone taking offence to fowl language in a football stadium must be a complete cock in my opinion, pluck 'em!

[Erithacus]

9 hours ago, exAtyeoMax said:

I was reading a book about football in the 19th century, and it sounded like a riot! There was a mixed crowd of men and women, lots of fighting and the refs were usually drunk!

Sounds familiar. Perhaps it was a carry-through of the older games that football could be based on - the sort where two villages have a free-for-all over some round of cheese or such. Maybe it still goes on today?

And as an aside to the problem of offensive vocabularies, it's historical fact that we (as City fans) were guilty of racist abuse around that era. One of Britain's early prominent black footballers, Walter Tull, got appalling abuse and was shortly dropped from the Spurs first team around 1909-10. That must have been at the original Bristol South End ground on St John's Lane. Tull played for Clapham, Spurs and Northampton before joining the Middlesex Regiment at the outbreak of WWI. He was killed in action, in March, 1918.

[REDOXO]

If I didn't have City I wouldn't have a reason to swear!

[Davefevs]

I'm pretty much with @tinmansleftpeg.

Today was not normal football effing and jeffing, it was not a nice atmosphere to be in with kids.  I'm usually fine with it today came away from today's match feeling that overshadowed the game.

But each to their own I suppose.

[Ivorguy]

Swearing is never acceptable, and is always in danger of becoming sexist, racist etc which is even worse.

It is totally unacceptable in today's society

[Portishead Red]

If anybody needed confirmation that football is dead, this post is it.

Sit down, don't sing aggressively, and don't swear. 

[alexukhc]

Whoever that middle age man wearing the red hoody with the robin badge on today in R31, swearing all game f'in and blinding kicking the seats, over and over right little madam, needed to be taken down a peg or two.... I'm all for the odd swearing, the passion but you mate, wow real big man, ********

[Ivorguy]

4 minutes ago, Portishead Red said:

If anybody needed confirmation that football is dead, this post is it.

Sit down, don't sing aggressively, and don't swear. 

It is the only thing that will save football in the long run as a mass leisure activity

The days of refusing to sit, 'aggressive' singing and swearing are as dated as woollen football shirts and leather balls

[Portishead Red]

3 minutes ago, Ivorguy said:

It is the only thing that will save football in the long run as a mass leisure activity

The days of refusing to sit, 'aggressive' singing and swearing are as dated as woollen football shirts and leather balls

I rest my case.

Goodnight.

[maxjak]

Watching Bristol City has honed & refined my ability to swear………and therefore taken it to a new level of creative, innovative profanity.

[RumRed]

9 hours ago, Portishead Red said:

If anybody needed confirmation that football is dead, this post is it.

Sit down, don't sing aggressively, and don't swear. 

I suggest you read @Davefevs thread on today's match to gain understanding.

Football isn't dead but the 70's are and the sooner some people realise that the better.

[Barrs Court Red]

Should swearing be banned? Absolutely not. Do some people take it too far? Certainly.

 

[Dollymarie]

Hate the c word and would love to see it banned. Other than that I see it as part and parcel of life, whether at football or not. 

[Frenchay Red]

Swearing is part of the rich diversity that is the English language. Over the years swear words may have changed, but have always been in common use (see what I did there!).

There is a time and place of course, but in our increasingly sanitised world, football remains the time and place. IMO

It certainly did yesterday watching those cheating c**** !!!

 

[Davefevs]

3 hours ago, RumRed said:

I suggest you read @Davefevs thread on today's match to gain understanding.

Football isn't dead but the 70's are and the sooner some people realise that the better.

I'm gonna generalise massively here, and also only about a small minority, but it was as if a number of those from the 70s/80s bad days had been in hibernation and turned up yesterday 30 years on, having not moved with the times.  

[exAtyeoMax]

15 hours ago, Erithacus said:

Sounds familiar. Perhaps it was a carry-through of the older games that football could be based on - the sort where two villages have a free-for-all over some round of cheese or such. Maybe it still goes on today?

And as an aside to the problem of offensive vocabularies, it's historical fact that we (as City fans) were guilty of racist abuse around that era. One of Britain's early prominent black footballers, Walter Tull, got appalling abuse and was shortly dropped from the Spurs first team around 1909-10. That must have been at the original Bristol South End ground on St John's Lane. Tull played for Clapham, Spurs and Northampton before joining the Middlesex Regiment at the outbreak of WWI. He was killed in action, in March, 1918.

My friend lives near Stroud, some strange goings on, up round those parts. so I've heard…

[Lanterne Rouge]

38 minutes ago, exAtyeoMax said:

My friend lives near Stroud, some strange goings on, up round those parts. so I've heard…

Not always involving cheese either.

[WhistleHappy]

14 hours ago, alexukhc said:

Whoever that middle age man wearing the red hoody with the robin badge on today in R31, swearing all game f'in and blinding kicking the seats, over and over right little madam, needed to be taken down a peg or two.... I'm all for the odd swearing, the passion but you mate, wow real big man, ********

....dammit he was at it again was he?...

Happens every time he decides to go incognito  and mix with the ordinary fans in the 'cheap seats' ...

Sorry Steve but if you can't control yourself in public during matches perhaps you should stay up there with the prawn sandwiches, your behaviour when you go feral is not becoming of a man in your position. As a club owner you have a responsibility to set a good example to your supporters, and a bloke your age looks ridiculous wearing that red hoodie.. its a piss poor disguise too mate.

[Aizoon]

I've a better idea. Let's all take up flower-arranging.

[ZiderEyed]

RIP to the beautiful game.

[Erithacus]

Here's my two penn'orth, whether you want it or not.

The English language is indeed a wonderful and fundamental part of our being. It has always changed and will continue to do so, as long as there are English men and women drawing breath. Foul, offensive, threatening and vulgar words are an inseparable feature of same. Shakespeare himself has used certain words (some now forgotten, some still current), so it cannot be ignored how they impinge. Football evokes many emotions and passions, some of which provoke use of some words - and ways of expressing them. Such is the complexity that mere words on a page or sounds in the air are not a complete entity in themselves - what really is worth discussing is that most difficult of qualities: context.

For example, we all have mates who will call you all sorts of names, in a friendly (if teasing) context. Yet, if a stranger was to come up to you and use the same words you would have a more negative reaction, no? At a football match, there are many more strangers and some will be letting their deeper caveman out. How you react is relative to that environment.

Should a foreigner stop you and curse in a language you don't understand, would you necessarily be offended? You would probably base your reaction on the manner and tone, rather than meaning. And it's long been my belief (after attending many games over the years) that some fans use the afternoon to indulge in some sort of self-administered primal therapy. The amount of abuse and threatening language directed at opposing players/officials/other fans is inversely proportional to the chances of them retaliating. It's easy to give the ref dog's abuse when you know he won't respond. They say the things they want to say to their boss/spouse/policeman/social worker but would not dare to actually face to face. Hopefully it will discharge their pent-up troubles for another week.

 

But then, what do you expect at a football match - Mozart? Some elevation to a higher meditative state? Probably not. That said, however, would I prefer it if there was no swearing at the footy? I would think it would be an 'unnatural' atmosphere. Do I expect it? I'll admit, on occasion when the circumstances allow. There is a time and place, and a football match would be missing some of its essential texture without it. Regulation is the thorny question. Who dictates and who has the right? Free speech has a cost, no doubt. I'll leave that issue for greater powers than mine.

 

Here lies the crux: the words are not enough - it's the context. And in so many cases the words are indicative of the person. We've all seen the fan who cannot seem to avoid using certain words and behaving in a similar manner. We've all seen the fan who looks like he has other issues apart from the play. Where there does appear to be a difference is whether the person engages their brain or simply their spleen when using language. How we react to these people is as important as the words. We judge others as we are judged by them.

 

Remember - your words will mark you out! They are mightier than the sword. They are your currency.

 

<Sits back down in seat and stays quiet>